TOS Review See-N-Spell Quick Reference Guide

I do ok with spelling.  Most of my mistakes are typos and not true misspellings.  My oldest daughter though has always struggled with spelling.  Even now, in high school, it is her weakest area.  I have another daughter who is a natural speller.  Spelling comes very easy for her.  She is our walking dictionary.  This type of conversation happens frequently at my house:

“Hey, how do you spell  <a difficult word>?”

With a heavy sigh, “Look it up.  I’m not a dictionary.”

“I can’t look them up because I can’t spell them enough to find them in the dictionary.”

So you can imagine how excited I was to read this description:

“Easily find the correct spelling of 300+ commonly used American English words just by knowing the sound of the first letter or first few letters.”

I eagerly expressed interest in the See-N-Spell Spelling and Vocabulary Quick Reference Guide from CadenaSmith Enterprises.  Recommended for Grade 4 through adult this booklet is described as “Easy-to-Use, Fast, and Focused.”  The inside cover gives instructions on how to use the See-N-Spell.

This $9.99  reference guide includes a document sized See-n-Read Reading Tool.  (Want to know about the nifty See-N-Read tool? Check out my blog review of See-N-Read).   I found this tool helpful when I was trying to look up words in the “Commonly Misspelled” section.  (The instructions I mentioned above include how to use the See-N-Read tool with the See-N-Spell guide.)

Thoughts from BooBear (age 16): " I was frustrated because I would try to look up a word [in the first section] that I needed and it wouldn’t be in there.  There were words that I already knew how to spell but not the hard ones I needed.  The homophones section is good though. I liked that it had gorilla and guerilla.  I do always mess that up. I think this would have been really helpful when I was in 4th or 5th grade.”

[Mom note about BooBear.  I think she would benefit from using the 2nd section “Commonly Misspelled Words” as well as the 3rd Section “My Special Interest Words” which is a blank section, divided by letter, where you can list words you need.]

Thoughts from Tailorbear (age 12): “I used it when I was writing my paper for school.  It was easier to use than a dictionary. It’s like a spelling dictionary.  I thought it was helpful.” 

My Thoughts: I think the 1st section which divides words by function (noun, verb, adjective) would have been wonderful for my oldest when she was younger.  I think for natural spellers such as my Turtlegirl, this isn’t as useful as a tool.  She rarely needs help with spelling.  My favorite aspect is the homophone part of the 1st section.   On the page for Tt, you’ll find to, too and two as well as there, their and they’re including definitions so you’ll know when to use each word.  I think this is a very useful tool to have around.

I found the website could be hard to navigate so let me give you some specific pages to check out:

Description page:  http://www.see-n-read.com/seenread.html

Ordering page: http://www.see-n-read.com/store/seenspell.htm

Click on the banner below to read what my fellow crew mates had to say about See-N-SpellAll information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

Disclaimer: As a TOS Crew member, I received this product free of charge to review. This review is my honest opinion with, hopefully, enough detail as to why I liked or did not like a product so that my readers can make an informed decision. I received no compensation.